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Newspress

Are your headrests in the right place? (Most people's aren't.)

Those headrests are actually an essential bit of safety kit.

HEADRESTS ARE VITAL and life-saving features that should be fitted to all seats – front and rear.

Headrests are designed to limit the rearward movement of an occupant’s head and the correct headrest position can prevent or mitigate whiplash or injury in the event of a rear impact crash.

You should position your headrest no more than six centimetres below the top of your head. The top of the headrest should be at least as high as the top of your head or your ears should be level with the middle of your headrest. The back of your head should be no more than six centimetres away from the headrest itself.

Most headrests are positioned too low to offer adequate protection. So why not take a few moment the next time you get into the car and adjust yours and those of your passengers to make your car that little bit safer.

Watch this video from the RAC and learn how to correctly position your headrests.

gerard harris / YouTube

READ: 4 of the biggest motoring trends from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show >

READ: How to use your car’s high-beam headlights… properly >

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Feb 19th 2015, 2:11 PM

    “This is why Snapchat fully deserves a €16 billion valuation” And yet the article doesn’t explain why Snapchat deserves a €16 billion valuation. Sure, I understand its potential revenue raising abilities. I understand its appeal to advertisers. I understand that it hosts a lot of personal information which would be invaluable to potential investors and advertisers. But why, exactly, is it €16 billion? Why not €15 billion? Or €1000 trillion? How did they arrive at a figure of €16 billion?

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    Mute Andy Lane
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    Feb 19th 2015, 2:39 PM

    I think the headline means, “Snapchat has recently been valued at $16bn. Here’s why it’s so popular/unique”.

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Feb 19th 2015, 2:49 PM

    Yeah, but we know why it’s so popular and unique. We see articles about it every second day. If, at this stage, you don’t know about Snapchat’s popularity and uniqueness then the likelihood is you just don’t care, in which case you wouldn’t be reading this anyway. We have still to see how exactly the 16 billion figure was calculated, which I what the headline alludes to.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Feb 19th 2015, 9:24 PM

    What I was saying above is that Snapchat has three major features that could be massive money spinners for them, and how it’s effectively become a multimedia platform as well, they’re the most quantifiable ones unless you’re privy to their future plans then fire away.

    As for how a company is valued, that takes into a number of factors into consideration which would include money raised (so far, it’s raised $648m in 6 different funding rounds), current popularity, the potential for growth in both revenue and users, (which links to the last one but anyway), the value of the industry (instant messaging would be the obvious one, but it’s now become a media entity and has video on its side so that’s two, three if you include Snapchat Stories and its potential for widespread event), assets (both digital and physical), is it public or private, and so on.

    Determining the exact reasons why it settled on $19/€16 billion to the point of a formula isn’t possible since you don’t know what factors they’re prioritising ahead of others. Also, when you’re dealing with a private company as unlike Facebook, Apple, Twitter or any other public company, they’ve no obligation to share details about their plans or forecasts to anyone.

    In Snapchat’s case, it’s potential in three areas as I mentioned above: events, multimedia (it trying to become a Netflix-style entity for articles, music and TV), and payments/ecommerce as they’re the ones that have a massive influence on this valuation. Also the core psychological element of Snapchat of limitation (which is oddly overlooked and was the main reason I wrote this in the first place) is such a massive factor and that seeps into all of its features. If Snapchat was just about self-destructing photos/videos on its own, then it would have been overshadowed by Facebook Poke back in 2012 or accepted Facebook’s $3 offer back in 2013.

    The discussions I’ve seen on the subject (on Twitter and other sites) only mention Discover as if that was the sole reasons behind such a high valuation. The main point above is that it’s rarely one factor that leads to that, (especially when it’s well-known), and it’s weird how other features are forgotten about just because they’re not as new or shiny as the latest thing (or the tired ‘sexting’ angle that’s peddled out regularly).

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    Mute jon-boy55
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    Feb 19th 2015, 10:28 PM

    Give it 3 yrs and youll see all such companies worth a fraction of todays value, times they are a changin

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Feb 19th 2015, 10:33 PM

    I get all that. The fact still remains that the headline suggests that the accompanying article will explain exactly how the figure of 16 billion was reached. I was curious to know how they got that figure. And yet, I’m still none the wiser. Should it have a large valuation? Obviously the answer is yes, and you have explained that both in the article and your comment. But we’re still no closer to understanding the 16 billion valuation. Sorry, but I’m a stickler for this kind of thing. If you know how, then say it and let the headline reflect it. If you don’t, then don’t mislead the reader into thinking you do, only to leave the reader empty handed.

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    Mute The Hooded Biscuit
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    Feb 20th 2015, 1:06 AM

    If everyone on snap chat had a super sweet party = 16 x the amount of willie photos ever sent = 16billion

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    Mute The Dublin Cynic
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    Feb 20th 2015, 9:11 AM

    On Sesame Street their number of the day is 16 x 1billion. Tomorrow it will be $43 Billion

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Feb 19th 2015, 1:17 PM

    I’d say the long term bet is when an analyst bets a pension fund on this.
    I’d be nervous.

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    Mute SMcB
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    Feb 19th 2015, 2:01 PM

    It could only ever be a trade sale to Google or the like …. Its a very limited product. If a pension fund manager bought snapchat, they should be sacked.

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    Mute Andy Cassidy
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    Feb 19th 2015, 2:26 PM

    Nothing on this Earth deserves to be valued at €16 billion

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    Mute Atticus the Accuser
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    Feb 19th 2015, 3:15 PM

    So what’s your idea of a max cap value so Andy?

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    Mute dj dangermouse
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    Feb 19th 2015, 7:57 PM

    You haven’t seen my willy.

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    Mute John Reese
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    Feb 19th 2015, 10:00 PM

    If I owned it I would sell now

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    Mute trickytrixster
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    Feb 19th 2015, 8:46 PM

    Fapchat

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    Mute Todd Hebert
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    Feb 20th 2015, 9:39 AM

    It deserves about a 16 CENT valuation. It’s ridiculous, and hopefully a fad that will die quickly. If the world is lucky, some evil company will pay 16B, then go out of business when people realise how stupid Snapchat is.

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    Mute Richie Kennedy
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    Feb 20th 2015, 12:32 PM

    Never seen such anger directed at a mobile phone application before! Got dumped via Snapchat did you? :-)

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